Jungle Fever

Jungle Fever is a 1991 American romantic drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. Starring Lee, Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Lonette McKee, John Turturro, Frank Vincent, Tim Robbins, Brad Dourif, Michael Imperioli, Anthony Quinn, and Halle Berry and Queen Latifah in their film debuts, Jungle Fever explores the beginning and end of an extramarital interracial relationship against the urban backdrop of the streets of New York City in the early 1990s. The film received positive reviews, with particular praise for Samuel L. Jackson's performance, and was also commercially successful.
Plot
Successful Harlem architect Flipper Purify lives with his wife Drew, a buyer at Bloomingdales, and their young daughter, Ming. One day at his workplace, the Mast & Covington architecture firm in mid-town Manhattan, Flipper discovers that an Italian-American woman named Angela "Angie" Tucci from Bensonhurst has been hired as his temp secretary. Initially upset at being the only black person, he relents when senior partners Jerry and Leslie remind him that hiring is based on ability, not race.
Angie's quiet fiancé Paulie Carbone co-manages a corner grocery store/cafe and newsstand and lives with his elderly widowed father Lou. When Paulie arrives to take her out on a date, her brothers Charlie and James antagonize him while he awaits her arrival, threatening physical retribution if he sexually disrespects her. Nevertheless, she urges Paulie to stand up to them as they depart.
After working several late nights together, Flipper and Angie have sex, beginning a tumultuous relationship. The next day, Flipper demands that Jerry and Leslie promote him to partner, but they deny his request, and he resigns, telling his employers that his ideas have made the firm very profitable. Eventually, he admits his infidelity to his longtime friend, Cyrus, who criticizes him not for his infidelity towards his wife, but for his affair with a white woman. Cyrus describes his situation as "jungle fever"—an attraction borne of sexualized racial myths rather than love—and Flipper warns him against telling anyone. Angie's friends are equally disparaging when she discloses her liaison.
Drew learns about Flipper's affair through Cyrus's wife Vera and ejects him from their home, forcing him to move in with his father, Southern Baptist preacher The Good Reverend Doctor Purify, and his mother, Lucinda. Later that night, he confronts Cyrus for betraying his trust and insults Vera for being unable to keep a secret, which damages his friendship with Cyrus. Shortly afterwards, Flipper denounces Cyrus, realizing that he will always side with Vera regardless of her actions. Later, Angie devastates Paulie by ending their longstanding engagement, but when she returns, her father Mike, having discovered her relationship with Flipper, severely beats Angie with his belt and kicks her out.
Flipper attempts to reconcile with Drew at her workplace by bringing her flowers, but Drew declines, feeling he was only attracted to her for being half-white. He and Angie move into an apartment in Greenwich Village, where they encounter discrimination for being a mixed-race couple, such as insults from a waitress named LaShawn at a local restaurant, chastisement from The Good Reverend during the couple's dinner with his parents, and financial issues. One night, Flipper is restrained and almost arrested by two policemen (the same ones who killed Radio Raheem two years prior) who receive a wrongful report that he was attacking Angie. The couple's issues are compounded by Flipper's feelings for his family and her wanting to have children of her own, causing their split. Echoing Cyrus's earlier words, Flipper tells Angie their relationship has been based on sexual racial myths and not love. Angie, although upset, accepts that the affair has ultimately run its course.
Later, Flipper's crack-addicted brother Gator steals and sells Lucinda's TV for drugs. Searching all over Harlem, Flipper eventually locates him in a crack house and exasperatedly disowns him. Soon afterwards, Gator returns to his parents' house to ask for money and, after Lucinda refuses, begins ransacking the home. His erratic behavior ignites an altercation that ends with The Good Reverend angrily disowning him before shooting him with a handgun. Gator collapses and dies in Lucinda's arms as The Good Reverend watches remorsefully.
Meanwhile, Paulie's racist Italian-American friends mock the end of his engagement. He asks one of his customers, a friendly black woman named Orin Goode, out on a date, defying Lou. En route to meet Orin, his other customers viciously assault him for attempting an interracial relationship. Although badly beaten, Paulie still arrives for his date with Orin. Mike reluctantly allows Angie to return home, and Flipper, unaware of his own family tragedy, unsuccessfully tries to mend his relationship with Drew. As Flipper leaves from his apartment, a young crack-addicted prostitute propositions him; in response, Flipper embraces her and cries out in anguished torment.
Cast
Themes
Racism
Lee dedicated the film to Yusuf Hawkins. Hawkins was killed on August 23, 1989, in Bensonhurst, New York by Italian-Americans who said the teenager was involved with a white girl in the neighborhood, though he was actually in the neighborhood to inquire about a used car for sale. According to the New York Daily News, "the attack had more to do with race than romance".
Drugs
In the film, Flipper's brother, Gator, is a crack addict. He is constantly pestering his family members for money. His father has disowned him, but his mother and Flipper still occasionally give him money when he asks.
In an interview with Esquire, Jackson explains that he was able to effectively play the crack addict Gator because he had just gotten out of rehab for his own crack addiction. Because of his personal experience with the drug, Jackson was able to help Lee make Gator's character seem more realistic by helping establish Gator's antics and visibility in the film.
Music
The film's soundtrack was by Stevie Wonder and was released by Motown Records. Although the album was created for the movie, it was released before the movie's premiere in May 1991. It has 11 tracks, all of which are written by Stevie Wonder, except for one. Though some found Wonder's album was unappealing, others believed that it was his best work in years.
The instrumental theme for the film is "Bless the Star" by Terence Blanchard. This theme was used in Mo Better Blues previously but does not appear on either's soundtrack.
Reception
Critical response
The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Samuel L. Jackson's performance as crack addict Gator, which is often considered to be his breakout role. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 49 critics. The site's consensus states: "Jungle Fever finds Spike Lee tackling timely sociopolitical themes in typically provocative style, even if the result is sometimes ambitious to a fault." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78% based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars and wrote: "Jungle Fever contains two sequences - the girl talk and the crackhouse visit - of amazing power. It contains humor and insight and canny psychology, strong performances, and the fearless discussion of things both races would rather not face."
Accolades
1991 Cannes Film Festival
Best Supporting Actor: Samuel L. Jackson
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Special Mention)
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Supporting Actor: Samuel L. Jackson
National Board of Review
10th Best Film of the Year
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Supporting Actor: Samuel L. Jackson
Political Film Society Human Rights Award
Year-end lists
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated
References
External links
1991 films
1991 romantic drama films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks films
African-American romantic drama films
African-American films
American romantic drama films
Filicide in fiction
Films about adultery in the United States
Films about drugs
Hood films
Films about dysfunctional families
Films about interracial romance
Films about Italian-American culture
Films about prostitution in the United States
Films about racism in the United States
Films directed by Spike Lee
Films produced by Spike Lee
Films scored by Terence Blanchard
Films set in Brooklyn
Films set in Harlem
Films with screenplays by Spike Lee
Universal Pictures films